Flourless Chocolate Cake

Several years ago, a sweet friend of mine requested a Flourless Chocolate Cake for her birthday. I’d never heard of it before, but she told me that she had fallen in love with it at a restaurant once and wondered if I could make her one.

I found a number of different recipes and I tried a couple of them. Then I made this one and it took my breath away.

I’ve made this cake several times over the past few years and every time this is served, the room goes silent.

Unassuming in appearance and almost ridiculously easy to make, this cake is a fantastic decadent treat. I use dark bittersweet chocolate, instead of cocoa powder and that difference creates an entirely different cake.

This is creamy and smooth, not at all dry. The serving size truly is the tiniest sliver. The slice pictured here served two people.

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Generously grease a 10” round springform pan and set aside *. In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the sugar, salt and water. Simmer, stirring frequently, until completely clear and the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water (or in a microwave at 50% power for 20 second intervals), melt the chocolate. Pour the melted chocolate into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Cut the butter into 1 inch pieces and slowly beat the butter into the melted chocolate one piece at a time. Pour the hot sugar and water mixture into the chocolate. Beat to combine.

Slowly add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each egg is added to the mixture. Pour the batter into the well-greased springform pan. Prepare a pan larger than the springform pan and set the springform inside it. (I use the broiler pan from my oven. I have also used those huge foil catering pans with a baking sheet underneath.) Pour about 4 cups of boiling water into the bigger pan, or enough water to fill the pan about halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Carefully set the pans in the oven and bake the cake in the water bath. Bake at 300 degrees for 45-48 minutes. The center of the cake will still look wet when it is finished baking. Chill the cake overnight in the pan.

Remove the springform ring prior to serving. Slice into very thin pieces and serve topped with fresh whipped cream or fresh berries. Enjoy!

Notes

Some springform pans will allow water to pass through to the bottom of the cake. If you are concerned about that happening or aren't certain how tight your pan will seal, you can wrap the outside bottom and sides of the pan very tightly with foil to make sure water can not enter the pan. I've done that in the past with different water-bath recipes and it works well.

About Mary Younkin

Hi, I’m Mary. I’m the author, cook, photographer, and travel lover behind the scenes here at Barefeet In The Kitchen. I'm also the author of three cookbooks dedicated to making cooking from scratch as simple as possible.

How long do you let your cake sit in the water bath after you take it out of the oven? I made this cake tonight and let it sit in the bath until the water was cool enough for me to take the springform pan out without burning myself. As I did this I noticed the cake edges were free and there was water in the bottom of my pan. I dumped out as much as I could without disturbing the cake. Is that supposed to happen with springform pans (I've never used one before), or did I just ruin my cake?? Thanks.

I don't think you ruined the cake. I've heard that some pans leak, though I haven't had that happen myself. If your cake is cool, I'd probably go ahead and unmold it long enough to make sure the water is out and then reattach the ring, just to keep it from being bumped in the fridge. Thanks for letting me know that happened. I'm going to add a note to the recipe!

Thanks for your reply. Well I just cut into it, and it was fine (I didn't get a chance to read your reply until the cake had already been in the fridge almost 24 hrs). There was a spot that was a little softer than the rest of the cake, so I think that pouring off the water when I did saved it. And I must say this recipe is spectacular!!!! Thank you for posting so many delicious gluten-free recipes. My husband went gf last year due to allergy – his grandmother and sister have full-blown celiac disease – and baking for him has been my biggest challenge. I greatly appreciate your gf recipes!

Some spring form pans do leak. You can avoid leaks by wrapping foil around the bottom of the pan before placing it in the water bath. I always have the foil come all the way up the sides just to make sure no water gets in.

Sign Up Here for FREE recipes!

archives

search

Barefeet In The Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Please respect my work, recipes and photographs. If you do use a recipe in your own writing, please give proper credit and link back to the original post.